Friend or Foe
by CheveronChick
Summary: "Legolas believed everything was a friend until it proved otherwise, while Thranduil was more inclined to think everyone an enemy until proven friend." Given his son's track record, perhaps Thranduil should not be surprised by his son's news following the War of the Ring.


**Everything belongs to Tolkien.**

 **Thanks for coming, hope you enjoy it!**

… **.**

Physically speaking, it was easy to see the resemblance between Thranduil and his son. Legolas had inherited his father's gleaming blond hair, and they had the same shade of pale blue eyes. Both were tall and apparently strong, Thranduil more so than his son.

Surprisingly to some, Legolas had inherited a great deal of his father's inherent uncompromising and unyielding stubbornness the King was known for. The trick was, Legolas was just quieter about it. It was this quality that had allowed him to become one of the best archers in middle earth, once Legolas decided upon something, he would not rest until it was achieved. His training had begun very young, younger than Thranduil would have liked, but the young elfling had already been so determined to learn that there was no keeping him away from it. It was better to teach him how to do it properly, rather than him harm himself in the woods somewhere.

Elrond had been nothing less than startled when he had seen the first demonstration of Legolas' archery; as his sons were not much older than the Prince and had only just recently started their training. When Legolas has joined one of their training sessions with Glorfindel he had matched them in swordsmanship, but during the archery portion, he had accurately fired five arrows in the time the twins hit the bullseye on one. Glorfindel had burst out laughing in delighted surprise, and had spent the rest of the afternoon trying to teach him as many ridiculous archery tricks and talents that he could.

The two shared the same fierce and loyal heart, that burned with love with an intensity that nearly burned in their eyes, if one knew how to look for it. They shared the same expressions and many mannerisms, they shared the burden of royalty and responsibility in a world that was failing them.

Thranduil and his son shared many likenesses, but there was one very important distinction between the two of them. Legolas believed everything was a friend until it proved otherwise, with Thranduil was more inclined to think everyone an enemy until proven friend.

The King could still remember the exact moment he had come to this horrifying conclusion: Legolas had only just begun crawling and had begun his never-ending quest to explore every inch of the world, he had crawled under a bush and found a snake. He knew what snakes were, Thranduil _knew_ that he knew what snakes were, he knew he ought not to touch it. Which is exactly what he had done. The trees gave a shout of fright to draw their Kings attention, and never before had Thranduil snatched Legolas from the ground so swiftly.

Thankfully, it had only been a harmless garter snake, basking happily in the sun upon a rock. But the nightmare had not ended there.

In Thranduil's opinion, it was as if every time his sone saw a new creature every single grain of sense left the boy's head, the scarier the creature the faster it left. A few years after the snake incident, Legolas had spent nearly an entire summer trying to befriend the very large fish in a small lake nearby, very large fish that had equally large teeth. The wood elves tended to simply avoid the lake altogether, but not Legolas. No, Legolas had read to them, talked to them as if they were friends, and he had even brought them various bits of his stolen dinners to try and convince them that fruit and lembas bread was better than eating meat. His father had nearly fainted on the day he had finally realized what his child had been up to when he came upon him standing waist high in the lake with the fish. Legolas had looked up at him with beaming pride.

The worst part of Legolas' belief that everything was a friend, was that much more often than not they ended up being a friend. Perhaps out of sheer determination on his part, but it happened nonetheless.

After the snake was a badger. She had made a den in one of his favorite meadows to play, and instead of leaving the protective mother to be to her field he had decided that they ought to share the field instead. The first day she charged out of her den whenever he set foot out of the trees, yet every time she chased him away over time he would calmly return, not having fully left the area. By the end of the first day, he could stand three steps into the field without her reacting. By the end of the second day he could stand in the middle of the field, with her den on the far side. The third day, he brought her some of his breakfast and tossed it close to her like a bribe, then he sat in the clearing and began to read a book for his class. Three weeks after that, Legolas had excitedly pulled his father all the way there to see her cubs, who all came running excitedly out to see him. Including the mother.

Later that same year he had fostered an injured hawk in his room in secret, without any sort of cage or protective wear. The following year he had decided to be friends with Beleur, the world's least friendly keeper of books. He had not been particularly cheerful to begin with, but after the death of his wife, he had become nearly chilling. To this day, his father did not know how his son had accomplished it, but until the day that Beleur had sailed west Legolas remained one of his only friends. Whenever they saw one another they had a least a pleasant exchange, and when he was little Beleur world allow him to read some of the important books if he sat nicely in the library to do so. Many rainy days had Thranduil gone in search of whatever mischief his son had gotten into that day, only to find him sitting in rapt attention in the library, drowning in the story Beleur weaved for him.

It was more than likely there were still countless 'friends' Legolas had made over the years that Thranduil did not know about. Sometimes, the thought still kept him up at night, as he lay in bed and wondered what monsters his son might have found growing up and then promptly tried to hug. When word had reached him about the Balrog in Moria, he sent a prayer to Manwe that his son had the sense for once in his life to walk, preferably run, away from something.

Legolas charmed the residents of Rivendell, broke bread with the settlements of men around the forest, and spent afternoon's taking peaceful walks with Beorn the skinchanger - both as a bear and a man. He climbed a mountain to visit the great eagles out of sheer curiosity, he had been gone nearly a week before had been returned on the back of one of the great birds.

His father often swore that he would be the only elf with hair that had gone grey, all from the stress of his offsprings over friendliness. His only solace was that it caused others a certain degree of distress as well, for every summer he spent in Rivendell he always received irate letters from the Lord of the valley who was his temporary keeper, about the foolishness of his son. As if he was not already aware.

There had been misshapes, but apparently not enough to deter him. He had been bitten by many creatures, gotten into less than desirable situations, and once he had gotten stuck in a tree a particularly protective elk refused to let him down.

Nevertheless, everything was greeted with a friendly smile and open heart. He went for peaceful walks and returned with birds or squirrels, he went for patrol and came back with a wolf, he was sent to a meeting in Rivendell and returned with a human child named 'Estel'.

In hindsight, Thranduil thought that perhaps he should not have been as surprised as he was by the entire situation.

"Ada, this is Gimli. A dear friend."

He was nearly certain several more hairs lost their pigment.

… **..**

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